


It'll Be Back

by Paresse



Category: Karakuridouji Ultimo
Genre: Background Relationships, Gen, Horror, I'm gonna focus mostly on the horror here, Multi, Polyamory, Slow Burn, Suspense, There will be robot sex but it's gonna be a while, robot gore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 10:53:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14809980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paresse/pseuds/Paresse
Summary: Something is attacking the doji. Something even Dunstan hadn't predicted is happening. !Rewritten and Revised!





	1. Just Next Door

**Author's Note:**

> I'm EosphorosWriting over on FanFiction.Net and I'm revising, rewriting, and taking my favorite and most popular Karakuridoji ULTIMO stories from there and bringing them over here. Hopefully doing so will renew my interest in writing them again! Please enjoy the first of many yet to come!

An annoying buzz ripped through the 3AM silence of the old, degraded apartment. K tensed up under the covers as he heard Vice snarl.

"Who the  _fuck_  is calling me at  _three in the morning?"_ K pretended to be asleep as Vice checked the caller ID, "Why the fuck is Fussa calling me?" His shout went down a notch as he answered, " _Fusataro Fussa_ , do you fucking know what fucking time it is? You better have a damn good reason for waking me up!" Vice quieted for a moment, letting Rage's master speak. Then; "That's your fucking problem, not mine!" He snarled, now more than a little pissed. K dared to open his eyes a crack to look at Vice, who was glaring out the window into the trashed alley below. His face suddenly softened into a look of pure confusion, "He—He  _what?"_  Vice narrowed his eyes, "How the hell did you--??" He put his free hand on his hip, "I—…Fine. I'll be there in a minute. I'll get Jealousy, too." He hung up and sighed as he slid on his jacket.

K's curiosity over took his cowardice for all of two seconds and he sat up, "What's going on?"

"Go the fuck back to sleep." Vice snarled before leaving, slamming the door behind him.

\--

Vice stared at Rage's room from the doorway. It was trashed. An absolute disaster. His first thought was that Rage probably had a tantrum, destroying his room. But he reminded himself how unlikely that was. Rage had recently blown off a lot of steam and no one was expecting him to snap again for a while. And there was a big stain in the middle of the room that stank of oil and something that only rang in Vice's head as 'danger'. Whatever had happened, Rage was wounded enough that his actual mechanics were damaged. He shifted his weight, done listening to Fussa's explanation behind him. The music producer knew nothing worth listening to about what was in front of him. He knew no human could do that to  _any_  doji, so he automatically assumed it was another doji, someone with a bone to pick with the wrathful doji. One of the evil doji most likely. He scowled at the thought.

But it was still odd that Rage was missing. Gone. And through the whole thing, Fussa was in the next room over...  _and hadn't heard a damn thing_.

Vice turned to Fussa, "If you didn't hear anything, how the hell did you find out that he was missing?" He raised an eyebrow.

Fussa sighed, having realized that Vice hadn't listened to him before, "The smell." He pointed to the stain.

"What do you guys want?" Jealousy had come in so suddenly that both Vice and Fussa jumped at the sound of his voice and the door opening. Vice growled a little, half out of annoyance and half to cover that jump for his own pride.

"Rage is missing. You said that emotions cling to certain areas of distress or some shit like that, right?" Vice asked, and then continued when Jealousy nodded, "Figure it out." He jerked a thumb to point into the room, stepping aside. Jealousy sighed and walked in, looking around. Then he suddenly looked up, at the ceiling, "Rage isn't missing." He said bluntly.

The other two shared different degrees of shock on their face at Jealousy's apparent discovery and Jealousy sighed at them. He got up onto Rage's bed, lifting up one of the tiles in the lowered ceiling. A surprised whimper greeted Jealousy as he stuck his head into the crawlspace, "Why are you up here, Rage? Come back down."

"I-I can't…! It'll come back…!"

\--

It took at least until dawn to coax Rage out of the ceiling. Vice had at one point gotten frustrated and tried to force him down. He got quite a literal shock for it. But when Rage was finally calmed and brought down with Jealousy's assurance of safety below, he immediately lapsed into unconsciousness when his feet touched the ground. When his arms had finally released their death grip around his chest, they could see the full extent of the damage. And when they did, it turned Vice's metaphorical stomach.

His entire chest had been ripped off, a few metal ribs sticking out at odd angles with the glistening red and browns of his fluids. His sphere was protected tightly by the limbs that usually made the pledge, forming a last resort defense. The edges of the wounds were long claw marks and what looked like bite marks. The human shape of the bite marks embedded it in Vice's mind that whatever attacked him absolutely had to be a doji.

He'd have to ask who it was when Rage came back to his senses. For now he paced angrily outside the room as Jealousy tried to do what he could to keep Rage from losing anymore fluid vital to functioning. Vice could  _not_ have his inferiors fighting each other. Rage's voice rung in the back of his mind 'It'll come back...!' It. Rage had called what attacked him 'it'. He stopped mid-pace, glaring at the floor. Who had the power to do that? To strike that kind of fear into one of the most stoic and stubborn doji in existence?

His attention was drawn away from his thoughts as Jealousy brought Rage into the living room and set him on the couch. The exasperated psychic looked up to Vice, "He won't wake up for a while. Even with Fussa here, whatever attacked him staunched his healing abilities..."

Vice walked over, gold eyes hard with his anger, "Jealousy. Go to each of the other sins. Find out who did this." Jealousy scowled, clearly not convinced it was a doji, but obediently nodded and left.

Vice looked down at Rage and snorted. He'd never really liked the guy--too bull-headed for his own good--but he was useful. Loyal.

He snapped at Fussa to fix him something to eat before going to stand on their balcony. After a while of staring at the city, a black shape flashed by on the street below. Vice blinked a couple of times, not sure if he'd really seen anything. He rolled his eyes and shrugged it off as his eyes playing tricks on him. His mind toying with the fear that had settled in his chest. A fear he'd never admit. A fear that had begun to fester the moment he'd heard Fussa's panic over the phone. His golden eyes focused on the sunrise instead, nails tapping in annoyance against the metal railing.

Rage woke up much later with a groan, gauntlet laying over his face to shield it from the light of the afternoon sun. It was at just the right unfortunate angle to hit the wrathful right in the eye.

Vice looked over at him with a hard glare. He was sick of waiting and wasn't going to wait any more, "Fucking finally. What the hell happened?" He snarled as he stalked over to the couch.

Rage blinked a few times and tried to sit up, but yelped and laid back down, "Shit... Boss?" He looked over at Vice with a hesitant, almost sheepish look, "You're certain she's gone...?"

"She? You said 'it' earlier." Vice crossed his arms.

"Well it isn't really... I mean..." Rage clenched his eyes shut and whimpered, "Fuck, man, my head hurts..."

"What attacked you?" Vice growled, leaning forward.

"A-A little girl... but she wasn't... she was like us but... I mean it wasn't human but... not doji..." Rage suddenly curled up and started trembling, having a panic attack of sorts. Vice sighed and leaned back, running his fingers through his hair as he waited for it to pass. Fucking  _hell,_ he was sick of waiting. But right now he had no choice.

\--

Crouched behind a dumpster, large eyes focused on a sparrow's body. Others would come for it soon. The space was tight, but there was no pain.

Movement. An old man with a ponytail stood over the body, appearing in a fashion not unlike a blink. His face contorted into confusion as he knelt next to the fallen blue beauty. A doji stood beside him and there was worry over his face. These weren't normal emotions on their faces, and that they didn't know what was there. The creeping thing that waited and watched as the creator and creation examined the bird's body.

"…What do you think it was, Dunstan?" The doji asked quietly.

The old man, Dunstan, shook his head, "I don't know. But whatever it was to take him off our radar and do this to him… It's from our time. And I doubt it was legal. Even if we tried to go back to our time and figure it out, I doubt the maker of this thing is still alive." He pulled at one of the claw wounds, opening it further and looking in. A sickly, metal-against-sinew sort of sound came from the action, "It didn't leave any residue for me to take samples of, either… Let's get out of here before it comes back, Milieu." He picked up the body, and suddenly they were gone just as fast as they had appeared.

So that was him. The ultimate prey. Just standing there and the whispering horror had seemingly done nothing. But it was studying, yes... It knew much more about them now than it did before. And one thing stuck out to it above all.

They were scared.

And fear is a friend, a companion, a guide... a one true love.

\--

Rage had finally calmed down even more hours later, the sun setting now.

The night before, he had been reading a music sheet when he realized he couldn't hear the sound of the pages turning. He flipped it forward and backward, but there was nothing. Then he'd tried to talk to himself, and couldn't even hear himself. He'd looked around at last and saw that something-"A girl? Looked like one at least... I think?"--had appeared on his dresser, crouched. Then it was on him. The desk had gotten in his way as he tried to get away, so it managed to pin him to the ground. After that, Rage said all he could remember was pain and panic until he managed to get his hand against the thing's face and let out a massive burst of electricity. Both scrambled away from each other, Rage into the ceiling and who knows where the thing went.

After what little Rage could describe of the thing, Vice was sure it wasn't any of the doji. Rage knew what all of the others looked like, and wouldn't make a mistake like that. Jealousy confirmed this later that none of the others even knew what had happened. Something else had attacked Rage. Vice was very careful not to show his own fear in front of the others, especially Rage. It was taking root much deeper than anything he'd felt before. He knew Jealousy could feel it, but showing it to even him would be a massive blow to his dignity.

After Rage calmed down, he got more pissed than ever, pacing like a wounded lion. Worse, he was silent. No one could know what he was thinking-Jealousy knew he was angry, but his heart reading wasn't good enough to detect exact thoughts-and that was dangerous. One time he turned too fast and twisted a wound. He had to sit down, then, with a defeated growl.

Vice wanted to find this thing before it killed any more of his underlings.

Before it came back.


	2. Acceptance

The abandoned hospital was almost entirely soaked in silence and grief. None of the good doji, not even Regula, had anything to say. After Dunstan had appeared with Service's body, nothing made sense.

Yamato closed his eyes. Everything before had finally started to click ito place, where he could perfectly understand it. The time travel, the doji, Noh powers, everything. Now something was hunting them? The doji suddenly all had something to fear more than the other side of the Funeral. None of the doji were excluded, according to Dunstan. There had been an attack on an Evil Doji as well, though Rage had survived. Barely. Dunstan had initially planned to go into the future just after he vanished to find the person who created this... thing. But after talking with both sides of the Funeral, Dunstan came to agree that doing that would not affect this timeline. He could do that after they'd gone and finished off the thing in this time and place. Right now, Dunstan was keeping an eye on most of the evil doji, who'd planned an ambush on whatever this was.

Except one.

Except  _one_  evil doji who seemed to insist on throwing a tantrum every two seconds and refusing Pardonner's help.

One doji whom Dunstan had dragged along, insisting that he not get caught up in whatever the others planned. Dunstan didn't want to lose more doji than he already had.

The teenager flinched as he heard yet another screeching fit from the platinum blonde doji. He sighed. It was no wonder he was a singer in this time. That doji certainly had one hell of a pair of lungs...

If doji even had... lungs...

He glanced at Ultimo, "Should we try to go talk him down again, Ulti?"

The redhead didn't seem to be in any mood to try and calm someone down, looking on the edge of wrath himself. But the greatest of good slowly nodded and got up.

Yamato followed him towards the back of the hospital, where Goge was standing guard to keep Rage from hurting anyone or himself. He couldn't exactly run, most of his mechanisms too torn up to allow much movement besides pacing. Goge, who was rubbing his temples, nodded to the two as they moved past him into the room. Rage shut up the moment they walked in and glared bullets into their cores.

"The hell do you want now?" He growled. Despite his wounds, he stood in the center of the room with his arms crossed to hide his current wounds. Despite the obvious pain and exhaustion in his face, he held his chin high, defiant.

Yamato spoke, "The same as the last three times. If you really want your score settled with this thing, you need to let Pardonner heal you. You're in no shape to fight, and if this thing keeps attacking at this rate, you won't have time to heal on your own before it comes back for you."

Rage just snarled, "I don't need help."

The sight, the stress, the _fear,_ became overwhelming. Ultimo snapped, "You're not the proud one!" Emerald eyes narrowed in an anger that made even the doji in front of them hesitate. The anger of a saint was nothing to take lightly. "You're the wrathful. The vengeful. The one who settles his scores no matter what, right?" Rage didn't answer, "So let Pardonner help you and go beat the hell outta that... thing! Or are you gonna let Vice and the others do it for you while you cower here with your tail between your legs?!"

Rage started to tremble, glaring. Anger? Fear? Yamato stared at Ultimo in disbelief, mouth agape. The good doji had either just escalated or fixed the entire situation and Yamato was afraid to move. If he moved, he risked setting one of them off.

"Fine." Rage suddenly spoke, the sound defeated and quiet, "Bring the little insect in here..." He uncrossed his arms, making Yamato flinch at the sight of his chest torn and ruined. It made it apparent to him that no, doji didn't have lungs. Even if Rage had, they were long gone. Rage sighed at him before going to sit down on the old cot in the room. Every ounce of energy seemed to leave him. Pity crossed Yamato's face unbidden at the sight of the defeated evil doji. It was strange, seeing this. Seeing a being as powerful as Rage cowed* by pain and exhaustion. Yamato was scared shitless of evil doji, typically. They were evil, strong and unmoving. This was... unnatural.

He heard Ultimo whimper quietly and leave suddenly. Yamato did a double take before going to follow. Once he was out, Ultimo was walking quickly down the hall. Pardonner looked annoyed as he pushed Yamato aside, muttering something to himself. Goge gave Yamato an apologetic shrug. The teenager sighed and went to follow Ultimo, who'd long since rounded a corner or two. But Yamato knew where he was going.

\--

Rage glared at Pardonner, "Some 'good' leader you have. He sounded like Vice." He sneered.

"Piss off." Pardonner stood in front of him, his gauntlet separating as he activated his noh and focused it on Rage's chest. It was different, operating on a doji rather than a human, and he had to focus.

Rage eyed Pardonner slightly, recieving a glare in return. Rage just grinned, "So there is some evil behind your lines."

"And there is some good behind yours." Pardonner sent back a mocking, knowing grin. Rage scowled again.

"Just hurry the fuck up." He grumbled. Pardonner said nothing more.

\--

There he was. On the roof. Yamato nodded thanks to Slow, who'd flown him up and watched him leave before going over to his doji.

Yamato set a hand on Ultimo's shoulder, "Hey, you're alright. Outbursts are okay. Especially like that. You made him get help."

Ultimo was silent for a moment, then, "You saw the look in Rage's eyes. Like he knew me... He was comparing me to Vice, I know it..."

"But you're  _not_  Vice. You know that, I know that, he knows that. For one, Vice would have snapped at him to get over it, not get himself fixed."

"...But I was convincing him to act wrathful... not good... Aren't I supposed to be trying to convert him...?"

"...You heard Dunstan. The Funeral is on hold. We need everyone and everything as stong as possible to get rid of this before it kills any one else. Good or Evil. And right now, we know Rage can hurt it. We need him more than others." He pat Ultimo's back lightly. He knew what was really bothering Ultimo, though, "And hey, you're never going to end up like Vice. Don't bottle it up. The more you hold it in, the worse it'll be when you let it out."

Ultimo sighed and nodded a little, but managed a giggle when Yamato ruffled his hair. He batted his master's hand away playfully.

Someone landed on the roof behind them and they both turned.

Rage was looking at Ultimo. His face unreadable. Yamato tensed up, but blinked in confusion when Rage set a gauntlet over his chest and bowed at the waist. He thought he heard Ultimo gasp faintly, but it could have been a slight breeze.

Rage straightened himself. "Thank you." He said, the words hanging in the air like a fragile glass wind chime, and managed the barest of smiles before turning back towards the city, his face turning to one of pure hatred before he vanished, taking off with the sound of thunder echoing through the mountains.

Yamato turned to look at Ultimo, who was grinning happily.

\--

Vice chewed on a bone as he waited in the alley. He'd made a few of the sins split up into pairs to patrol the surrounding areas. They'd been getting anxious, but Vice knew how to keep them satiated. For now. He'd sent Paresse and Edile towards a festival that was nearby. Edile and Hana would keep Paresse awake by making him keep up as they went from vendor to vendor to get food, and Mizho would be somewhat entertained by the gothic themes of that particular festival.

Desir and Orgullo were sent towards a rich shopping district, since they and their masters had expensive tastes, they would be somewhat happy. And since Akira's house was nearby, he could have his fill of showing off his expensive home to a pretty girl.

However, Jealousy and Avaro stayed. Jealousy was content, and Vice had Avaro's clones out and about where the others weren't, but Avaro himself stayed close. He glanced towards the mountains, wondering if Rage was fighting being healed, or if Pardonner's ability just took a while. Honestly, he wasn't sure which he liked better. On one hand, he had to keep dignity in his branch, or risk weakness growing. But on the other hand, Rage knew the most about this thing. Even though he'd told them, Rage had actually seen it, felt it attack. He had a better grip on how it worked than Vice himself or the others. They needed him. He glanced at Jealousy, who was looking back. He narrowed his eyes.

"Quit. I know what you're doing."

Jealousy just looked away, "You know I can't quit. My noh is on constantly unless Desir is nearby." Vice was about to snap at him when Rage landed in front of them. The way he held himself seemed to surprise both Jealousy and Vice. Avaro just yelped. Rage had touched down dangerously close to him. Rage snorted at the short doji and pushed him away with a foot.

Vice smiled, pleased as he leaned back against the car. It was obvious Rage had gotten healed, but rather than looking like he questioned his place, now he looked more certain of his standing than before. He knew exactly who he was and where he belonged.

He was evil, most certainly. Vice's second in command. And he finally carried himself like it. Vice didn't know what happened, but he'd be damned if he asked.

"Where is everyone?" Rage asked.

"Scouting. Checking the area. Why?"

"Call them back. It wouldn't fall for an ambush like this. It's smart. Where it was sitting in my room, it knew I would hit the desk. It's not animalistic. It thinks. It's probably setting up an ambush on its own. Waiting for us to give up and go home. Maybe my place, maybe not. I don't know if it's smart enough to go after revenge or not, but it's a possiblility."

Vice thought for a moment, then nodded, looking at Avaro, "Get your clones to round them up. Get Orgullo and Desir as fast as possible. Then we'll decide on a better plan." He stood up straighter and looked at Jealousy, who was almost glaring at Rage. Vice didn't have a heart-reading ability, but he could feel the envy rolling off that doji in waves. Vice just snickered and sat on the hood of his master's car to wait. Edile and Paresse were back sooner than the other two, which sent of warning flags to Vice. Paresse should have slowed them way down. That, and they were even farther away. Avaro was shifting from foot to foot, nervous. His clones couldn't find them... and a few clones weren't responding.

Rage looked to Vice, realization dawning on him, "...Why did you need Orgullo and Desir as fast as possible...?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Their path went by Akira's home." Vice stood up a little too quickly, "God _damn_  it!" He snapped. As if to punctuate his outcry, the sounds of firetrucks blared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * - Pardon the pun, couldn't resist.


	3. Madness

The flames leaped off of the burning house like a stampede trying to reach the sky.

Desir watched from on top of a building nearby, whimpering and panting. His master was gone. He hadn't realized that such a sudden and unexpected severance would hurt this badly. That, and he had no idea what had happened to Orgullo. The bursts of flames had long since stopped from inside the house. All he remembered was following the proud doji up to his room, mischief and lust dancing across his face, and suddenly hearing a god-awful screech. Like some doji took his claws and raked them over a metal sheet. Then he remembered running. Something had grabbed him, thus the reason his leg was mangled so badly, why he was sitting. He had no idea if Orgullo had gotten out or not, he was just glad that he himself had gotten out of there. He jumped and tried to scramble away when Avaro landed next to him. No, it was a clone. He could tell it was relaying information back to the original, then receiving some. The clone lifted Desir up, despite numerous protests, and took him out of view of the building and hopefully out of view of whatever had attacked him.

Seconds later, Rage was there, kneeling next to him, "What the hell happened?"

How straight forward. At least he didn't ask if he was okay. Desir just shook his head in response. He had no idea what happened.

Rage just nodded, standing up straight and looking around. Desir eyed him, confused. He was acting strange... Or maybe he was just in shock? Could doji even do that? He laughed to himself. Rage looked at him again and frowned. Desir wasn't sure if it was irritation or concern on the wrath's face. Surely not concern. He giggled again. Rage nodded to someone in the distance and took off. The clone stayed, though he looked a bit shaken by everything, as the original probably was as well. He just giggled a bit more.

\--

Rage walked up to Vice, a hard scowl in place, "It did something to Desir. He's lost it."

"You say that as though he had anything to lose in the first place." Vice snickered, however forced, but sighed and let Rage finish.

Rage snorted, "He's over there laughing. One of his legs is  _missing._  I don't think he realizes it, either."

Avaro nodded from his spot near them, sat on the ground with his knees curled to his chest, "Yeah, man. When my clone got close, he acted like he could stand up. He tried to get away. And he was looking at the house." He glanced up at the ashen remains, which were no longer even smoking.

Vice's face creased with a deep frown, "Damn..." He looked over at the others, brows furrowing as he spotted Paresse. He was stopped, staring down at Orgullo. He raised his voice after growling, "Hey, moping around isn't gonna help anything. He's dead..." The lank doji jerked, yanked back into reality, and nodded a little. But even behind that mask, it was clear he still wasn't okay. Mizho snapped something at him from a distance and the slothful moved away from Orgullo's body. Vice watched him for a moment, then back down to the mangled mess that used to be a tall, proud doji. He'd tried to ignore what the other evil doji did in their free time--this wasn't the first he'd heard of Paresse and Orgullo's involvement--but with things as they were, he couldn't help but wonder exactly how deep that had gone.

Vice shook his head quickly and growled a little. He looked towards Jealousy and Eater, still going through the rubble, "Find anything important?" He snapped in irritation, "Because we found Desir. He's still kicking. Though with only one leg kicking rather crookedly..." He snickered at his own little joke.

Jealousy came back down, shaking his head, "Nothing. The fire destroyed everything."

Rage sighed, "Wouldn't expect anything less from Orgullo's flames..."

"Wait!" The short and fat one called from the other side of a crumbling wall, "I found something! Careful comin' over, though. Ya might ruin 'em."

"Ruin what?" Rage huffed. The whole house was in ruin.

"Tracks!"

At the mention of tracks, Rage quickly, but carefully, made his way over to where Eater was.

In the wet ashes were tiny foot prints that could have belonged to a toddler. And along either side were long, thin drag marks caked with fluid.

A low voice, with a familiar strange accent cut through the silence. Paresse was speaking, having silently come up, "It was here after the fire went out. After we got here." The realization dumped ice into Rage's systems and he looked over to Eater. The purple one's eyes were wide, for the same reason Rage was frozen to the spot. His eyes went back to the prints, his vision following them until they ended at the edge of the rubble, anything left wiped off in the wet grass.

"...fuck."

\--

Slow jerked awake at the sound of an argument. He grumbled and sat up, rubbing his eyes. Another rise in voices made him snap awake entirely. One of those voices was Vice. He gathered himself after a moment and finally got up. He walked into the room where the other doji were, where a few more had gathered. First thing that he noticed was Pardonner knelt over an unconcious Desir, working on a rather fucked-up looking leg. Next was Yamato arguing with Vice. He skirted around them, placing a bit of good luck on Pardonner and Desir so that, hopefully, everything would be repaired without complication. Rage was glowering in a corner, watching Vice and Yamato. He stepped over to him.

"I take it the ambush didn't work...?" He asked quietly.

Rage just nodded slowly, "If I'd not resisted so long, I probably could have stopped Vice from sending Orgullo and Desir by Akira's house. I knew it would set up an ambush of it's own... We could have gotten it..."

Slow sighed, "Blaming yourself isn't going to help any. It's done now."

Rage just shook his head, his face drawn into a scowl. 

Slow eyed the other doji carefully, still rightfully cautious about him. But Rage seemed reluctant to speak much more. For now, "How's your chest doing?" Rage just shrugged a shoulder, so Slow let the subject drop. Yeah, Rage was done talking. He sighed and leaned back against the wall some, closing his eyes. He opened them for a second as there was another rise in voices. Ultimo was sitting a little ways away, staying out of the argument for the most part. He noticed Rage rubbing at his chest out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing. He'd mention it to Pardonner later. He didn't particularly feel like getting on Rage's bad side right now. He focused on the argument as it refused to even out again.

"It's obviously not after masters. Sumako and Akira died because of the fire, not because of this... thing." Yamato sighed, "I mean, it if was, it would have gone after Fussa when it attacked Rage."

Vice just growled, "It might start. If this thing really is as smart as we've seen, it's going to learn. Our masters are our batteries. If they die, we're easier to kill!" Yamato glowered at him. Vice had a very sound point. However...

"Nobody is going to be kept locked up. The doji will just have to keep a closer eye on their masters. If we're locked up, it will realize that we're important. And who even knows what it can chew through to get to us! We'd be a can of sardines! For now, we go about our normal lives, but the doji stay closer than before. If we show fear, it'll know you guys are vulnerable and will attack immediately."

Vice nearly argued, but the words 'show fear', made him clench his jaw shut. For now, he was forced to agree with Ultimo's master. He turned to look at Desir, "Fine. Fine... But, one more thing."

Yamato felt a rush of relief, glad his bullshitting had at least made  _some_ sense. But he felt a sinking feeling grow in his stomach. What the hell  _else_  was going on...? "What?"

"It has a noh ability. Before he passed out, Desir mentioned that he heard a loud screech when they got close to Orgullo's room. Rage mentioned everything going silent, and Fussa didn't hear anything. Which means Desir cancelled something out. It messed with his head."

Regula piped up, voicing reasoning for anyone who didn't quite connect the dots, "So not only does it have a noh, but it has a back up ability incase of doji like Desir. It either constantly emits or causes a loud noise someway... And it affected Desir strangely."

Vice looked at Pardonner, who snorted, but moved to look into Desir's audio receptors to investigate. But they themselves didn't seem damaged. So then shifted his vision to be able to examine his processors. He winced.

"He's right. Something burnt out half his processors. I might can fix them, but he'll have a few odd ticks. Dunstan would have to work on him to fix him entirely." He shifted his vision back and looked over at Yamato, who looked like he was going to be sick. He moved to begin repairs there, after making sure his leg was stable.

"So, if Desir is nearby, we can't launch an attack on it, basically. Or else it'll mess everyone up..."

Vice nodded, "If  _had_  managed to kill Desir, it would have screwed itself over in that department..." He seemed to be talking to himself, "What if that sound affects it, too?"

Rage shook his head in disagreement and stood up off the wall, "I don't think so. Not if it was still able to hide from us in plain sight. You didn't hear Desir. He's absolutely gone right now. If whatever happened could affect this thing, it wouldn't have been able to sit and watch us while we were at the house."

Slow jumped in, "Yes, but we don't know that for sure. It could be that it just isn't affected _as much_. It would make sense for it to not be affected by it's own ability, but we don't know for certain."

After a long moment of silence, "So basically, we have more questions than answers?" Yamato sighed and scratched the back of his neck, "Of course we do."

Regula rolled his eyes, "If you're all quite done... Rage, I'd like to have a moment with you. Maybe I can pull an image of this thing from your memory."

Rage visibly flinched at the idea.

"I'll make it quick. It'll be better for all of us to know what it is we're looking for. I was going to suggest it sooner, but you'd already taken off." The bald doji sighed.

Goge, from his place to the side, stood, "I can help suppress your fear, Rage. At least until Regula's got what we need."

But the fear was clearly not the only issue Rage had. The wrath doji eyeballed the pair for a long moment, until Paresse jabbed his side with a gauntlet, "Go, jackass."

Rage looked at him and huffed, but reluctantly made his way with the two good doji.

\--

Somewhere, with a quiet smile, Dunstan observed them. This was an unexpected turn, and one he loathed, but the two sides working together like this... it was really something else. In such a crisis... they trusted in each other's motives and powers. If reluctantly. The Evil knew the Good would never turn on them, they were too good. And the Good were just trusting anyways.

Milieu let out a slow sigh from somewhere near, "It's not ideal, but..."

"It's happening." Dunstan nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going to extend this later, just posting up the edited version of what I had so far on my previous version.


End file.
